


Everything Special

by BairnSidhe



Series: Fluff World [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Apologies, Fluff, Gen, Nail Polish, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 07:45:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6896116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BairnSidhe/pseuds/BairnSidhe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve is still worried Tony doesn't feel he's special, Tony wants to prove he does, and Bucky decides to do something about it.</p>
<p>Inspired by Unbottled, by peoriapeoria</p>
<p>Or, that nail polish fic nobody knew they wanted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything Special

**Author's Note:**

  * For [peoriapeoria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peoriapeoria/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Unbottled](https://archiveofourown.org/works/627298) by [peoriapeoria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peoriapeoria/pseuds/peoriapeoria). 



> Hey guys, this one's for peoriapeoria, and all the people like me who paint their nails to de-stress and boost confidence.
> 
> Check out the links below.

It began, as things so often did in Tony’s life, as a result of the Law of Unintended Consequences.  He wanted to keep the team close, so he turned Stark tower into Avengers tower.  He wanted to get Steve out of that shoebox in Brooklyn, so he turned up the charm and offered Rogers a favor, to be determined later.

He got the frick’n Winter Soldier instead.

Oh he got all the other stuff too, and Barnes wasn’t horrible, and his arm did things for Tony (not that he’d admit it with Katniss having clearly staked claim on everything attached).  And he brought in the first of the Fur-vengers, which Tony will never ever be upset about.  But sometimes Barnes forgot that Steve was no longer a skinny little 90 pound bag filled with 250 pounds of righteous anger.  So when Steve made an off-hand comment about the fight on the Helicarrier, suddenly Tony had the World’s Most Feared Assassin sitting on his couch instead of Barnes.

“Steve, you know I didn’t mean it like that,” Tony tried to backpedal as Barnes glared at him over the breakfast bar.

“Kinda seemed like you did.”

“Ok, at the time, yeah.  Here’s the guy my Dad loved more than me AND he’s just as heroic and amazing as all the stories.  I got pissed.  I’m pretty sure that scepter wasn’t helping, either.”

“I get that Tony.  But you never told me any different, so why should I believe you _don’t_ think everything special about me came out of a bottle?  Why haven’t you taken it back?”

“BECAUSE I NEVER KNEW YOU BEFORE!!  THERE IS NO REFERENCE DATA!!”   He sighed.  “Steve, I will prove this to you.  I will find a way.”

<^>

Five hours later, in his lab, the Winter Soldier appeared beside him.  “Stevie painted.  He was damn good.  I found one of his from before the serum.”  He laid out a poster recruiting men to fight.  Tony had to say, it was pretty damn good.  Instead of Uncle Sam, it was a woman, on the edge of attractive and motherly that was still proper enough not to be a MILF.  She looked concerned as she implored the viewer to stand up, and never back down.

“Damn, Rogers did this?”

“He also did one for the WAVES, had Athena standing in an ocean up to her waist, with battleships around her, pointing forward with her spear.  Caption was “Onward Sisters to Victory”.  It didn’t do as well, since the Navy wanted shore-duty for the women, but it got used later with the word “sisters” removed.”

“Capsicle was a feminist?”

Bucky snorted.  “You think any kid raised by a single Irish mother in the depression was gonna see women as anything _less_ than utterly terrifying?  I’m pretty sure Ma Rogers coulda stopped the war cold by walking up to Hitler and giving him a lecture.”  He shivered.  “I’m a trained assassin, I still get nightmares about the time I cracked her window.”

“Ok.  Feminist, artist, give me more.”

“You know how there’s dames out there whose mamas prob’ly thought they had sons at first?”

“Trans women, yeah.  Like Laverne Cox or Caitlyn Jenner.”

“We had some living in our building when we lived together, Evie and Starla.  Starla was a singer, and Steve use to walk her home in case someone got rough.  Since she was a dame with the wrong parts and people are horrible.”

“Ok, wow.  Next you’re gonna tell me he was a communist.”

“Socialist Party, but he didn’t vote party line.  He did always vote.”

“My illusions are shattered.  Was he _ever_ bad at _anything_?”

“Chewed his nails something fierce, his ma finally broke down and painted them to keep him from doing it.”

Suddenly Tony was struck by an amazing, crazy Idea, capital letter deserved.

<^>

A week before Steve’s birthday, a package landed on his coffee table and an expectant Tony stood over him.  Rolling his eyes, he dislodged Spots and turned off Bob Ross re-runs to sit up and open Tony’s early present.  Inside was a box of ten mini nail polishes, and the set was labeled in a bold and curly font “Everything Special”

“What’s this?”

“Proof.  Read the names, they’re on the back.”

Steve flipped the box to see color swatches with neat labels.  A nice navy blue was labeled “Onward Sisters”, the purple on one side labeled “Starla” and the green opposite was “Stand Up”.  A golden yellow was “Sarah” and the pinkish orange cream color was “Punk”, while the true red, vibrant and strong was “Do you Fondue?”  A white shimmer was “Not A Perfect Soldier” and the blue-black was “Just a Kid From Brooklyn”.  The long-wear base coat was “I Can Do This All Day” and the clear lacquer topcoat was “Dancing Monkey”.

“Tony, I don’t know what to say…”

“Thank you works.  If you give the go-ahead I can have enough made by the fourth to give them out at LGBT centers across the country on your birthday.  And Lewis volunteered to take pictures of you wearing them to post on the team Instagram.  I know what makes you special, Steve.  And it’s in every one of those bottles.  That’s why I named the set that.  Everything special _can_ come out of a bottle.”

**Author's Note:**

> Patreon: http://patreon.com/bairnsidhe
> 
> Tumblr: http://bairnsidhe.tumblr.com/


End file.
